DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 09/03/2025 has been entered. Claim(s) 2-21 is/are pending in the application. Applicant’s amendments to the claims have overcome each and every objection and/or 112(b) rejection previously set forth in the office action mailed 03/06/2025.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 2-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hadidi et al. (US20180297122A1) in view of Egerton et al. (US5002646).
Regarding Claims 2 and 7-9, Hadidi teaches a method of forming spheroidal powder products with plasma to control microstructure to meet demands where the powder may be titanium powder [0011] made by a titanium-based feed; while Hadidi teaches the spheroidized powder may be exposed to nitrogen [0053] but is silent regarding the powder product being titanium nitride specifically. However, Egerton teaches a method of forming titanium nitride powder specifically from titanium chloride feed, where nitrogen gas may be used with an RF plasma torch to form nanosized titanium nitride particles. (Col. 1, Lines 65-Col. 2 Lines 10 and Figure 2). Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to use the microwave plasma torch of Hadidi to form spherical titanium nitride powder particles specifically for the purpose of forming titanium nitride spherical powder which may be used in powder metallurgy applications.
Hadidi teaches a particle size range of 50 microns or less [0044], overlapping with the claimed range of 15-106 microns. (In the case where a claimed range overlaps with a range taught by the prior art, a prima facie case of obviousness exists. (See MPEP 2144.05(I)).)
The titanium nitride of Egerton has an empirical formula of TixNy where x and y is a molar ratio between 0.85 and 1.2 (See Col. 1, Lines 45-51) which encompasses the claimed phase of TiN, additionally, any since the method of producing TiN is substantially identical any phases made by the same method would be considered to be present under the expectation that products formed by similar methods are similar. (See MPEP 2112.01(I)), similarly the core shell structure of claim 7 would also be expected to be present and the TiN being present throughout the particles would also be expected as required by claim 8;
Claims 9-10 and 16-17, being drawn to a product-by-process, since the product of the prior art as decribed in the claim 2 rejection is obvious and there appears to be no significant difference in the method steps of claim 9 to form a significant structural difference between the prior art product and the claim 9 product; a prima facie case of obviousness exists for the product-by-process. (See MPEP 2113(I)). The claim 10 and 17 step of selecting a desired porosity, composition or microstructure is considered a mental step and does not impart patentable weight.
Regarding Claim 3, the powder of Hadidi is formed by microwave plasma spheroidization (abstract)
Regarding Claim 4, Egerton teaches the plasma comprises nitrogen gas (col. 3, lines 1-5).
Regarding Claim 5, Hadidi teaches a (mean) sphericity of 0.75 or greater [0040];
Regarding Claim 6, Hadidi teaches a median sphericity of 0.75 or greater [0041].
Regarding Claims 11-12 and 18-19, the final formed product of Egerton (formed from titanium chloride) is not considered to be structurally different to the claimed invention formed from commercially pure Ti powder, gas atomized Ti powder, hydride-dehydride Ti powder or hydride Ti powder. (See MPEP 2113(I))
Regarding Claims 13-14 and 20-21, the nitrogen containing gas contains hydrogen (Col. 3, Lines 5-7)
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 09/03/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding the Hadidi and Egerton references, applicant argues that the use of nitrogen containing gas is not conventionally used with titanium in plasma processing, however the inventors have found that nitrogen-containing plasma gas may react with titanium feedstock through the complete mass of the titanium particles, leading to the unexpected result of spheroidized titanium nitride powder.
This is not persuasive, the prior art teaches gaseous plasma reacts with titanium halide, and explicitly teaches the plasma gas as nitrogen in example 4 (col. 5, Lines 45-50) where the powder comprises titanium nitride; the primary reference already teaches plasma torches may be used to spheroidize titanium particles; with both of these teachings a skilled artisan would have an expectation of success in forming spheroidized titanium nitride powder with the modification of plasma gas to contain nitrogen.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/RICARDO D MORALES/Examiner, Art Unit 1738